In this blog, Ainu scholar, artist, and activist Kanako Uzawa discusses the representation of Japan’s colonial history in museums and public spaces for Te Papa’s Cipiyak Project.Read more
Members of Te Papa’s whānau recently established an informal Takatāpui Rainbow Sharing group. The group is open to all Te Papa kaimahi and acts as a hub to share information on collections and upcoming events (internal and external) relating to our various communities. To mark this year’s Wellington Pride Festival Tū Whakahīhī e Te Whanganui-ā-Tara (3–17 September) some of our members have written about what Pride means to them.Read more
You can never assume what a person’s relationship to a language is, says Ya-Wen Ho in a conversation with Grace Gassin, Curator Asian New Zealand Histories, about her past and present connections with heritage Chinese languages.Read more
Museums are magical places where time travel happens almost on a daily basis and getting to know what our ancestors and their acquaintances were up to in the 1800s is not so far a reach. Botany Curator Carlos Lehnebach describes how the discovery of a box full of seed packets stored at Te Papa brought a botanist, a nurseryman and his great-great-granddaughter together more than a century later.Read more
Bringing the swamp helmet orchid back from the brink of extinction is a mission that requires a multidisciplinary team of scientists, good eyesight and a lot of patience. There are only a few hundred plants of this species in the world; all of them are here in Aotearoa New Zealand. Curator Dr Carlos Lehnebach talks about his latest research to save this species.Read more
What does a young Japanese migrant from Hiroshima bring with her to her new adopted country? Setsuko Yotsugi brought a few things with her to start a future life in Wellington: hopes, dreams, resilience, and values. Here, her daughter Deb Donnelly tells the story of her mother’s journey to Aotearoa New Zealand and how she kept her connection with her birth country alive.Read more
It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of Luit Bieringa on 21 June.
Bieringa was director of the National Art Gallery from 1979 to 1989, an institution that merged with the National Museum to form what is now Te Papa. His story is embedded in the history of Te Papa – and indeed in the history of art in New Zealand. And the art works he and his staff acquired that are in our collection are a legacy he left for future generations.Read more
On 24 June 2022, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and decided that, despite almost fifty years of precedent, abortion is not a constitutional right. Te Papa curator Stephanie Gibson reflects on the long fight for safe, legal abortions in Aotearoa New Zealand using objects from the Te Papa collection.Read more
Sixty years ago, on 27 May 1962, a group of sixteen men met at a house on The Terrace in central Wellington to discuss forming what would become New Zealand’s first documented homosexual organisation – the Dorian Society. Gareth Watkins shares more of the story of some of the peopleRead more
Curator Grace Gassin introduces a new project highlighting taonga in the national collection belonging to Ainu, an indigenous people of 日本 Japan, as well as stories of Japanese migration to Aotearoa New Zealand.Read more
Norway rats and house mice are two of the most widespread invasive species worldwide. But where did the Norway rats and house mice in New Zealand come from? Our geneticist Lara Shepherd and colleagues from Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, University of Waikato, and Place Management NSW have shed some light on this question by sequencing DNA from rodent bones from a 19th-century archaeological site in Sydney.Read more
Visitors to Te Papa will no doubt have seen the Britten V1000 – an iconic, world-beating motorcycle designed and built in Christchurch by John Britten and his team. At the moment the bike will looks a bit different, as we are displaying it without its iconic pink and blue bodywork. History curator Katie Cooper gives an overview of Aotearoa New Zealand’s most famous motorbike.Read more
In the latest instalment of the Chinese Languages in Aotearoa project, curator Grace Gassin talks with interpreter Henry Lu about Hakka, and how it inspired his career.Read more
In this third look at our South African Collection, Summer Scholar Courtney Powell explains the intricate craft of beaded fashion and the important family connection behind some of these items.Read more
In the second instalment of blogs highlighting the South African Collection, Summer Scholar Courtney Powell introduces a fighting axe with a connection to one of New Zealand’s famous families.Read more
